Game 1:Sussex Skyhawks vs. Quebec Capitales, July 20th, 7:05PM, Stade Municipal, Quebec, QCCanada
Game 2:Quebec Capitales vs. Sussex Skyhawks, Aug 12th, 7:05PM, SkylandsPark, Augusta, NJUSA
Summary:
This is the third baseball roadtrip that I have made that included visits to see teams of the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball (CanAm League) play games at their home stadiums.Summaries of these two earlier trips, Twittered Baseball Roadtrip #1: Canadian American (CanAm) League and Twittered Baseball Roadtip #6 Independent Leagues of New Jersey 2010 Opening Days-Atlantic League and CanAm League, are posted on the this blog. By making this roadtrip, I have now attended games of all teams of the CanAm League, except the Pittsfield Colonials, at their home stadiums.
The plan for this roadtrip was to attend home and away games played between the same two teams. Because I live in New Jersey and had the opportunity to be in Quebec City, Canada for a brief period this summer, I chose the CanAm League. The Sussex Skyhawks were playing a 3-game away series with the Quebec Capitales from July 19th though July 21st, which was during the period I was in Quebec City. Also, the Capitales and Sussex Skyhawks were scheduled to play a 4-game series in Augusta, NJ from August 12th-August 15th. I have called this roadtrip “CanAm League-Sussex Skyhawks/Quebec Capitales Home and Away Series.”
The Capitales home stadium, Stade Municipal, is located in Quebec City just a short ride from the OldCity tourist section. This was the first baseball game I attended in Canada since going to a Montreal Expos game at JarryPark in the early 1970s. The stadium environment and game experience was interesting and a little different. I did not purchase a ticket in advance. When I arrived, I was surprised to see many long lines of people waiting to purchase day-of-game tickets. So a first difference was that, unlike most other games I attend, there was a huge walk up attendance. Also, the large enthusiastic crowd (Attendance: 3,821) appeared to be more adult oriented than those I have experienced at CanAm League games in the US. Even though the age of the audience tended to be older, the atmosphere at the game was very lively. The fans were very engaged with the team mascot, a lion named “Capi,” who interacted with them more as a cheerleader encouraging them to root for the home team. Finally, the Capitales enjoy strong fan support and have the highest average game attendance in the league, 3,288 per game.
The Strade Municipal ballpark is quite old. It was originally built in 1938, but underwent renovations as recently as 1999. I noticed a number of unique and interesting differences from other ballparks where I have attended games. One was that the netting that protects fans from foul balls, which is traditionally just in the area behind home plate at ballparks in the US, extended all the way down the fist base and third base lines to where the dirt of the infield met the outfield grass. The netting was quite high and would protect fans in the front rows from getting hit by a line drive. Second is that the stadium had a small modern electronic display screen where images of players and other information was displayed, but the score was posted on an old fashion manual score board. In fact, the scoreboard has several attendants sitting on founding chairs right on a platform in front of the scoreboard. You could watch them pick up the number plaques, walk down to the appropriate location, and physically hang the number up. This brought back memories of my youth when I played baseball in the little league and teener league and on a few occasion had the exciting opportunity of assisting at the scoreboard.
Finally, I have one last memory about the nuances of the stadium environment. I bought a general admission ticket to the game. The seating that this provided was quite interesting.The seats were similar to the wooden pew that one might see in a church and with a very high back. You did not get a specific seat, but could sit in any available location. Again a fun experience and unlike any type of seating I have seen before at a baseball game.
This “Home and Away” roadtrip concluded when the Capitales came to Augusta, NJ to play the Skyhawks in early August. I have been to see the Sussex Skyhawks play at SkylandsPark many times. In fact, it is one of the places I attended a game this spring on my “Independent Leagues of New Jersey 2010 Opening Days” roadtrip. As at the first Sussex Skyhawks game of the season, it was raining prior to the game, but this time the start of the game was delayed longer, about 1 and a half hours. The weather did clear up to allow the game to be played and SkylandsPark does have some seating areas where the seats are protected from the rain. So I was able to enjoy the game while remaining dry. Sussex Skyhawks games offer a very family friendly environment; however, due to the inclement weather the crowd was very small on this night. The photos blog post for this roadtrip includes a picture of the field covered by the tarp and an announcement on the scoreboard that a new start time would be announced as well as in-game action and a photo of the team Mascot “a hawk named Scotter.“
Summary of the Skyhawks/Capitales Home and Away Series Roadtrip Games:
Game 1:7/20/2010Sussex Skyhawks vs. Quebec Capitales
Sussex2R10H3E
LP:Jeff Icenogle (4W:2L)
HR: Kris Sanchez
Quebec 7R13H0E
WP: Jim Kukucka(2W:0L)
SV: None
HR: None
Game 2:8/12/2010Quebec Capitales vs. Sussex Skyhawks
Quebec 3R7H1E
WP: MattRusch (10W:1L)
SV: None
HR: None
Sussex1R7H3E
LP:Will Hassett (0W:2L)
HR: None
Twitter Roadtrip Information:
The tweets I posted on Twitter for each of the games includes pre-game tweets with information about the league, the teams participating in the games, and probable starting pitchers. In addition, a link is provided to view photos of the stadium. After the game, post-game tweets summarized the result, such as winning team, final score and overall team stats, winning and losing pitchers, how runs were scored, and other highlights of the game.
After graduating from New York University with a Master of Science Electrical Engineering Degree in the early 70’s, I embarked on overlapping career paths that lead me through a 25+ year career in the semiconductor/electronics industry and a 15+ year career as an educator of Electrical Engineering and Electronic Technology students.
Early on in my teaching career, I identified that my strength was in the area of course development and design. With this in mind, I created a number of unique courses on the topics of logic design and microprocessor technology in the late 1970s. At that moment in time, these areas of electronic technology were leading the way in changing the world of computing and computers. Eventually, I used these course materials as the basis for writing books on these subjects. In this way, I established a third parallel career (30+ years) as an author. Since the late 70’s, I have authored more than 25 text and reference books (including editions) for the field of Electrical Engineering. Today, I am semi-retired and teaching Electrical Engineering courses based on my textbook.
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